Waterjet cutting offers several advantages over other machining technologies: Lower cost. Waterjet parts are typically cut from sheet or plate material and require no special clamps, fixtures or tool changes. This translates to quicker production and lower cost. Wide variety…

Like any tool, waterjet cutting has limitations. The good news is that the limitations of waterjet cutting are easy to understand. This makes it possible to develop your design around those limitations (which is what this article series is about).…

Hole size With a stream width of 0.04 inches, you might think that this would also be the smallest accurate hole that can be made with the waterjet. But this is not so. The waterjet stream must break through the…

Taper Parts cut using ordinary waterjet cutting will have a slight taper along the cut edge of the part, typically between 0.0005 inches and 0.01 inches. This is due to the waterjet cutting stream spreading out as it gets farther…

Tabbing Small parts must be connected, either to each other or to the sheet of material, to prevent them from falling into the waterjet tank when they are cut. This can mean that they must be broken off by working…

Flanges and brackets One of the most common applications, and one of the simplest, is flanges and brackets. These are usually designed to hold multiple parts together, particularly parts that can't be joined with off-the-shelf brackets. These are typically rectangular,…

Corner braces Waterjet cut parts can also be used in brackets that are aligned so that the cut edge, rather than the face, connects to the part. This is accomplished using the t-nut technique. The low cost of waterjet cutting…

Signs are another popular application for waterjet cutting, as they typically convey their information in two dimensions. Logos, pictures, and lettering can all be cut using the waterjet. Most of the signs we make at Big Blue Saw are either…

Below is an example logo for “thegymnasium”. Illustration : The original logo to be turned into a sign. Now let's take a look at four different approaches to turning this logo into a sign. Below you will see renderings…

When making signs with lettering, it can be tedious work to generate all the necessary bridges. This is true both when the letters are positive space (solid material) or negative space (holes). Fortunately, by using the correct font, you can…